System and method of providing delivery of items from one container to another container

ABSTRACT

A shelf is positioned at a shelf level and above a floor level. A ramp starts at the floor level and transitions to a first level. A robot having a drawer can travel from the floor level up the ramp to the first level without touching the shelf. A drawer handler robot has a drawer transitioning lower level which is between the floor level and the shelf level. A first instruction is provided to the robot to travel up the ramp to the first level. The robot moves up the ramp and to the first level according to the first instruction. The system provides a second instruction for the drawer handler robot to retrieve the drawer configured on the robot. The drawer handler robot is positioned near the robot and on the first level and retrieves the drawer from the robot on the first level.

The present technology pertains to robotics and more specifically to asystem and method of providing and controlling robots in a warehouseenvironment to improve distribution of items through the warehouse andfrom one container to another.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to robotic systems for use in a warehouseor other environment. In many warehouse environments or supply chainenvironments, items have to be moved from one bin or container toanother. The movement of items can be achieved through manual processesinvolving humans and/or the use of robots. A basic aspect of movingitems involves picking as many objects from a source bin fordistribution to multiple destination bins. Where humans are involved,much time is wasted when humans must locate and verify the right binsfor transferring objects from bin to bin. Once the proper set of bins isidentified, the human user wants to perform as many “picks” from thesame source bin as possible.

Robotic warehouse systems have been developed to help manage thisprocess in a way that is as automated as possible. Automated warehouseshave some benefits over warehouses that use humans in some aspects ofthe process. However, a challenge that exists with respect to automatedrobotic systems is that they are designed for complete automation. In acompletely automated robotic distribution system, typically the maximumamount of throughput is essentially fixed. Thus, if the system isdesigned to provide a maximum of movement of, say, 1000 items throughthe warehouse, it can become very difficult to scale up to higheramounts of throughput.

Accordingly, even with increased automation in warehouse environments,additional efficiencies and scalability issues still exist.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the principles briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principlesherein are described and explained with additional specificity anddetail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computing device for use an any componentdisclosed herein;

FIG. 2A illustrates an example ramp and shelf environment forcommunication of drawers from one robot to another robot;

FIG. 2B illustrates an example method for utilizing the ramp and shelfenvironment;

FIG. 2C illustrates another example method embodiment;

FIG. 2D illustrates an elevator embodiment;

FIG. 2E illustrates a method embodiment related to an elevator;

FIG. 3A illustrates an example shelf and robot environment for enablinga person to transfer items from one container to another container;

FIG. 3B illustrates a method example for using the shelf and robotenvironment for enabling a person to transfer items from one containerto another container;

FIG. 4A illustrates a shelf and robot environment for enabling the userto transfer items from one container to another container;

FIG. 4B illustrates a method used in the shelf and robot environment forenabling the user to transfer items from one container to anothercontainer;

FIG. 5A illustrates a system having two-dimensional movement for use ina robotic environment for transferring items from one container toanother container;

FIG. 5B illustrates a method of using a robot having two-dimensionalmovement for use in a robotic environment for transferring items fromone container to another container;

FIG. 6A illustrates a diagram moving a plurality of robots into specificpositions to enable a user to move items from one container to anothercontainer;

FIG. 6B illustrates a method of positioning a plurality of robots suchthat a user can transfer items from one container to another container;and

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of operating between a fully automated andhybrid warehouse environment.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.Thus, the following description and drawings are illustrative and arenot to be construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are describedto provide a thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, incertain instances, well-known or conventional details are not describedin order to avoid obscuring the description. References to one or anembodiment in the present disclosure can be references to the sameembodiment or any embodiment; and, such references mean at least one ofthe embodiments.

Reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. Theappearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment,nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of otherembodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may beexhibited by some embodiments and not by others.

The terms used in this specification generally have their ordinarymeanings in the art, within the context of the disclosure, and in thespecific context where each term is used. Alternative language andsynonyms may be used for any one or more of the terms discussed herein,and no special significance should be placed upon whether or not a termis elaborated or discussed herein. In some cases, synonyms for certainterms are provided. A recital of one or more synonyms does not excludethe use of other synonyms. The use of examples anywhere in thisspecification including examples of any terms discussed herein isillustrative only, and is not intended to further limit the scope andmeaning of the disclosure or of any example term. Likewise, thedisclosure is not limited to various embodiments given in thisspecification.

Without intent to limit the scope of the disclosure, examples ofinstruments, apparatus, methods and their related results according tothe embodiments of the present disclosure are given below. Note thattitles or subtitles may be used in the examples for convenience of areader, which in no way should limit the scope of the disclosure. Unlessotherwise defined, technical and scientific terms used herein have themeaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art towhich this disclosure pertains. In the case of conflict, the presentdocument, including definitions will control.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forthin the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosedprinciples. The features and advantages of the disclosure can berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and otherfeatures of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from thefollowing description and appended claims, or can be learned by thepractice of the principles set forth herein.

The concepts disclosed herein can apply to any supply chain managementand include any context or environment in which, generally speaking,items need to be moved from one container to another container. Thepresent disclosure can address the issue raised above with respect tothe waste of time that often occurs where a human picker must locate andverify one or more of the right source bin and/or the right destinationbin(s) for items to be moved from one bin to another. A number ofdifferent solutions disclosed herein address this issue and improve theprocess for human pickers through the application of various newtechnologies.

One example environment that shall be referenced herein as a warehouseenvironment and what shall be presented are numerous improvements withrespect to how items can be transferred from one container to anothercontainer either in an automated fashion or a hybrid of automated andmanual means. While not every concept includes a manual or a humaninvolved in the process, at least one of the embodiments disclosedherein can address the issue of scalability, such that a hybridenvironments can be created, which includes a robotic component forincreased efficiencies where that is possible, but also includes a humancomponent which enables the overall environment to adjust to incorporatea human element which enables increased scalability at times of higherthroughput needs.

The term warehouse as used herein is generally meant to include anybuilding or facility used to store items which may need to betransferred from a source location, such as the building or facility ora source container within the building or facility, to a destinationlocation, such as a destination building or facility or a destinationcontainer within one or more buildings or facilities (e.g., the sourcebuilding or facility). Of course, the environment does not formally haveto be a warehouse, but this term is merely used to describe generallythe building or facility and the environment in which the robots and/orhuman workers operate.

Overview

This disclosure provides various different solutions (e.g., examples,configurations, implementations, procedures, etc.) that address theissues outlined above in different aspects. A first aspect of thisdisclosure relates to robot pre-staging items/totes for optimal picking,so humans can pick the items/totes with high efficiency. This can bereferred to as asynchronous collaboration. The general idea is toprovide a hybrid environment in which robots can pre-stage items/totesin a particular order. For example, items in containers on shelves in awarehouse can be pre-staged in a particular order, such that a user canstep through the transition of items from one container to another in anefficient manner according to the particular order. A container deliveryrobot can deliver the plurality of containers to one or more shelves ina shelf rack system. Smaller, shorter robots can also be configured tosupport a respective recipient container on top of the smaller, shorterrobots. The shorter robots can position a respective recipient containerunderneath the first shelf and on the floor level. Thus, in an automatedfashion, containers can be positioned in particular positions on shelvesand on mobile robots on a floor level and below the shelves.

With the pre-staging of containers each having one or more items, theuser can efficiently move from left to right or right to left and haveinstructions provided on retrieving items from a first container on ashelf, and delivering the items to a respective recipient container onthe smaller robot on the floor level. To further make the transitioneasier, the system can coordinate the movement of the recipientcontainers on their respective robots such that they extend out into theaisle so a user can easily see and drop one or more items into eachrecipient container. Each robot in the system can communicate wirelesslywith a central control system which can manage the timing ofevents/operations, the instructions provided for robot movements, andthe instructions to the user. The user can utilize a virtual realityheadset, an augmented reality headset, a handheld scanner, an audiosystem or video system, or any other mechanism to receive instructionson what items to retrieve for which containers and in which containersto deliver the items to. Confirmation mechanisms can be built into theshelving system. For example, a user could simply begin to reach andretrieve items at a first container, and a motion detection mechanismcan detect motion from the user and trigger the system to inform theuser to grab a number of items (e.g., three) from the source containerand deliver one or more items into each of one or more recipientcontainers (e.g., three different recipient containers) that areextended via the short robots into the aisle for easy access.

The system and method of enabling a transfer of products from onecontainer to another container can involve robots presenting oridentifying both or either of the source tote and the destination tote(e.g., coming out a little bit from under shelf) to ease identificationof what to pick from and where to deliver to (potentially with audio toindicate quantities).

In another aspect, it is assumed that containers on a shelf are properlypositioned and that robots on the floor with containers are properlypositioned as well. The system and method here can involve receiving anidentification from a user of a source container on the shelf. Theidentification can indicate that one or more items in the sourcecontainer will be moved from the source container to a destinationcontainer on a first robot at a first position on a floor under theshelf, wherein a second robot is also positioned on the floor under theshelf. Based on the identification, a system (1) causes the first robotto move at least partially from the first position on the floor underthe shelf to a second position which causes the destination container tobe accessible to the user, (2) receives a confirmation that the user hastransferred a product from the source container to the destinationcontainer on the robot and, (3) based on the confirmation, moves therobot from the second position to a third position under the shelf. Thefirst position and the third position can be approximately the sameposition. A first bar code scan of a bar code on the source containercan be used to receive the first identification and a second bar codescan can be used to receive the confirmation. Other mechanisms can alsobe implemented for providing confirmation of the transfer of items fromone container to another. For example, a first motion detector can beused to receive the identification, and a second motion detector can beused to receive the confirmation. The steps can be iteratively applied,such that multiple items from different containers can be moved from therespective source container on a shelf to a respective recipientcontainer positioned on a robot on the floor. In another aspect, anindication can be given to the user to retrieve an item from aparticular container and deposit the item in a particular destinationcontainer.

In yet another aspect, motion detection can be utilized to triggeroperations based on user movements. For example, when a user reachesinto a first source container, a motion detection mechanism can triggerthe control system to identify which source container is being accessed,at which point the instruction can be provided to the user and to one ormore robots on the floor to indicate how many items the user shouldretrieve from the source container and how many items to place into eachof one or more robots which move into a new position on the floor toretrieve one or more items. Thus, in this regard, the user may not beconfined to accessing the source containers in any particular order oraccording to any particular instruction. If there are multiple shelves,each containing source containers, the user can simply start and accessthe containers on any shelf and receive dynamic and relativeinstructions with respect to how many items to retrieve from eachcontainer and where to deliver those items based on which robots movefrom underneath the shelf and at least partially into an aisle forretrieving the items.

Another aspect involves utilizing a suction cup robot having only 2degrees of freedom and which is positioned to interact with multiplerobots, each of which has a container configured thereon, such thatmultiple robots will move into position and the suction cup robot willretrieve items from a source container and deliver them to a destinationcontainer. A method in this regard includes positioning a sourcecontainer under a suction robot having two degrees of freedom only, thesuction robot having a flexible suction end having a variable suctioncomponent that can cause suction to occur within the suction end uponcontact with an item in the source container, wherein the contact can benon-orthogonal of an end of the flexible suction and a surface of theproduct, retrieving the item from the source container with the flexiblesuction end by lowering the flexible suction end into the sourcecontainer to retrieve the item to yield a retrieved item, lifting theretrieved item from the source container from a lower position to ahigher position and moving the retrieved item horizontally from thesource container to a destination container, wherein the sourcecontainer is associated with a source robot and the destinationcontainer is associated with a destination robot.

The source robot can be moved into a position under the flexible suctionend as directed by a control entity. The destination robot can be movedinto a second position near the first position such that the suctionrobot can transfer the retrieved item to the destination container. Themethod can further include providing, via a control entity, a number ofitems to be moved from the source container to the destinationcontainer. The method can also include moving a first retrieved itemfrom the source container to a first destination container and moving asecond retrieved item from the source container to a second destinationcontainer, wherein the second destination container is in a differentposition than the first destination container.

In one aspect, the flexible suction end includes a central open portionhaving a camera that is positioned to view the item from a viewpoint ofthe flexible suction end. In this regard, the method can includeretrieving the item from the source container with the flexible suctionend by lowering the flexible suction and into the source containerutilizing feedback at a control entity from the camera that ispositioned to view the item from the viewpoint of the flexible suctionend.

Another aspect of this disclosure includes an ergonomic approach toenable a person to transfer items from a source container to adestination container from a sitting or standing position via thecontrol of robots being positioned in an easily-accessible locationaround the user. For example, the user could be sitting on a chair andmultiple elevations of semicircular shelves around the user could beconfigured such that robots configured with containers can move in andposition themselves with an easy arm reach of the user. Virtual realitygoggles, augmented reality goggles, audible instructions, hapticinstructions, light based instructions, etc., can then instruct the userto transfer one or more items from a source container configured on arobot to one or more destination containers configured on other robots.Once a transfer is complete, the one or more robots can then retreat toother destinations, and other robots can be positioned for additionaltransfers.

A method in this regard includes identifying a central location of auser who will transfer items from a first container attached to a firstrobot, to a second container attached to a second robot, positioning,via a control entity in wireless communication with the first robot, thefirst container via movement of the first robot at a first position nearthe central location of the user, positioning, via the control entity inwireless communication with the second robot, the second container viamovement of the second robot at a second position near the centrallocation of the user, providing, via the control entity, instructions tothe user regarding how many items to move from the first container tothe second container, receiving at least one item in the secondcontainer from the user, and moving the second container from the secondposition to a destination position for the at least one item.

Yet another aspect disclosed herein involves utilizing a ramp on a floorlevel in which the ramp is configured below one or more shelves in arack of shelves. The ramp enables a robot having a container configuredthereon to move up the ramp and be positioned under a first shelf suchthat the container is thereby elevated to a higher elevation than thecontainer would be when the robot is on the floor. The purpose of thiselevation is because drawer handler robots which retrieve and deliverdrawers or containers from the shelves in the rack of shelves have tohave a minimum height for retrieving and delivering drawers/containersthat is typically higher than the level of a container configured on arobot when the robot is on the floor. Accordingly, configuring a rampwhich can raise the elevation of a robot between 1 inch and 10 inchesabove the floor level can enable a robot having a configured containerthereon to move into a position below a first shelf of a rack of shelvesand thereby deliver a container to the drawer delivery robot formovement to another location. A robot configured on the elevation levelof the ramp that does not have a container configured thereon can alsoreceive a container from the drawer delivery robot.

The use of this ramp based system can be implemented for the purpose ofcontainer pre-staging as discussed above. For example, a drawer deliveryrobot may only be able to internally store 4 containers for delivery toone or more shelves as a container pre-staging process. If the systemcan deliver four or five robots to the elevation level of the rampsystem, then the drawer delivery robots can deliver four containers tothe appropriate shelves in a particular order, and then essentiallyimmediately retrieve four or five more shelves from the four or fiverobots and deliver those containers to the one or more shelves in theappropriate pre-staging order. Thus, the interaction between the floorbased robots that utilize the ramp system and the drawer delivery robotcan increase efficiencies in a number of respects, including a containerpre-staging process. It is noted again that the container pre-stagingprocess involves a hybrid environment in which the robots work incoordination with the human user. By pre-staging the containers in aparticular order, a human can more efficiently transfer individual itemsfrom source containers on shelves to recipient containers on robots on afloor level.

It is noted that in the ramp-based configuration, even if the robots areon a ramp elevation level, they still may include a mechanism of movingto retrieve items from the user or the robots could be configured tohave an extendable component which enables the robot to remain on anelevation level under the first shelf but extends the container out asufficient amount to make it easy for the user to place an item in therecipient container. In this example, the robot can move into the aislesuch that the user can place the items in the recipient container on therobot.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The disclosure now turns to FIG. 1, which illustrates an examplecomputing system including various hardware components, which can beused to implement the system, depot, robot, server, communicationdevice, or any other computing device disclosed herein.

In this example, FIG. 1 illustrates a computing system architecture 100including components in electrical communication with each other using aconnection 105, such as a bus. System 100 includes a processing unit(CPU or processor) 110 and a system connection 105 that couples varioussystem components including the system memory 115, such as read onlymemory (ROM) 120 and random access memory (RAM) 125, to the processor110. The system 100 can include a cache of high-speed memory connecteddirectly with, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of theprocessor 110. The system 100 can copy data from the memory 115 and/orthe storage device 130 to the cache 112 for quick access by theprocessor 110. In this way, the cache can provide a performance boostthat avoids processor 110 delays while waiting for data. These and othermodules can control or be configured to control the processor 110 toperform various actions. Other system memory 115 may be available foruse as well. The memory 115 can include multiple different types ofmemory with different performance characteristics. The processor 110 caninclude any general purpose processor and a hardware or softwareservice, such as service 1 132, service 2 134, and service 3 136 storedin storage device 130, configured to control the processor 110 as wellas a special-purpose processor where software instructions areincorporated into the actual processor design. The processor 110 may bea completely self-contained computing system, containing multiple coresor processors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-coreprocessor may be symmetric or asymmetric.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an inputdevice 145 can represent any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An outputdevice 135 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanismsknown to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodalsystems can enable a user to provide multiple types of input tocommunicate with the computing device 100. The communications interface140 can generally govern and manage the user input and system output.There is no restriction on operating on any particular hardwarearrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily besubstituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they aredeveloped.

Storage device 130 is a non-volatile memory and can be a hard disk orother types of computer readable media which can store data that areaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, solid state memory devices, digital versatile disks, cartridges,random access memories (RAMs) 125, read only memory (ROM) 120, andhybrids thereof.

The storage device 130 can include services 132, 134, 136 forcontrolling the processor 110. Other hardware or software modules arecontemplated. The storage device 130 can be connected to the systemconnection 105. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs aparticular function can include the software component stored in acomputer-readable medium in connection with the necessary hardwarecomponents, such as the processor 110, connection 105, output device135, and so forth, to carry out the function.

For clarity of explanation, in some instances the present technology maybe presented as including individual functional blocks includingfunctional blocks comprising devices, device components, steps orroutines in a method embodied in software, or combinations of hardwareand software.

The systems and methods disclosed herein address the problem of managingthe movement of items through a warehouse or in another supply chainenvironment. A number of different examples, configurations and methodswill be disclosed. It is noted that in overall supply chain managementenvironment, any of the concepts disclosed herein, or any of the stepsthat are taken, can be combined with any other example, step, orconcept. For example, the pre-staging concept can be combined with thesuction robot.

FIG. 2A illustrates several aspects of this disclosure, with a system200 that includes a rack of shelves 202, including a first shelf 203 andthe second shelf 205. The rack 202 will include typically one or moreshelves. On the shelves 203, 205 are example totes or containers 204,206, 208. Generally speaking, these containers (204, 206, 208) includeitems that need to be moved from one of the containers on the shelves203, 205 to a recipient container which is typically on the floor 218 oran elevated surface 216. A drawer swapping robot 226 can include drawerswapping mechanism 224 and storage capabilities 228 and 230 for storingdrawers therein. Communication unit 232 enables the robot 226 tocommunicate wirelessly with the control center 234. Any mechanism ofwireless communication can be utilized within the system. Wi-Fi,cellular, Bluetooth, near field communication, and even wiredcommunication can be utilized for a control center 234 to control themovement of one or more drawer swapping robots 226. Low profile robots210, 222 include respective containers 212, 220 configured thereon.These robots (210, 222) have control units 211, 223 which enable them tocommunicate with the control center 234, one or more drawer swappingrobots 226 and other low-profile robots, or any other computing devicewith wireless capabilities.

A ramp 214 can be used by robots to move up the ramp 214 and on a raisedelevation 216. The ramp 214 can raise the robot 222 from a floor level(e.g., 218) so the drawer swapping mechanism 224 can be used to retrievea container 220 or provide a container to the robot 222. The lowestlevel possible for the drawer swapping mechanism 224 is typically toohigh to match or be able to swap a container 220 when the low profilerobot 222 is on the floor level 218.

Yet another aspect disclosed herein involves utilizing a ramp on a floorlevel in which the ramp is configured below one or more shelves in arack of shelves. The ramp enables a robot having a container configuredthereon to move up the ramp and be positioned under a first shelf (e.g.,203) such that the container is thereby elevated to a higher elevationthan the container would be when the robot is on the floor (218). Theramp could also enable a robot to elevate to a shelf level. The purposeof moving the robot to an elevated level is because drawer handlerrobots which retrieve and deliver drawers or containers from the shelvesin the rack 202 of shelves have a minimum height for retrieving anddelivering drawers/containers that is typically higher than the level ofa container configured on a robot when the robot is on the floor.Accordingly, configuring a ramp which can raise the elevation of a robotabove the floor level (e.g., between 1 inch and 10 inches or sodepending on the particular configuration) can enable a robot having aconfigured container thereon to move into a position below a first shelfof the rack 202 of shelves and thereby deliver a container to the drawerdelivery robot 226 for movement to another location. A robot configuredon the elevation level of the ramp that does not have a containerconfigured thereon can also receive a container from the drawer deliveryrobot 226.

The use of this ramp based system can be implemented for containerpre-staging as discussed above. For example, a drawer delivery robot(226) may only be able to internally store 4 containers for delivery toone or more shelves as a container pre-staging process. If the systemcan deliver four or five robots to the elevation level of the rampsystem, then the drawer delivery robots (226) can deliver fourcontainers to the appropriate shelves in a particular order, and thenessentially immediately retrieve four or five more containers from thefour or five robots and deliver those containers to the one or moreshelves in the appropriate pre-staging order. Thus, the interactionbetween the floor based robots (210, 222) that utilize the ramp systemand the drawer delivery robot (226) can increase efficiencies in anumber of respects, including a container pre-staging process. It isnoted again that the container pre-staging process involves a hybridenvironment in which the robots work in coordination with the humanuser. By pre-staging the containers in a particular order, a human canmore efficiently transfer individual items from source containers onshelves to recipient containers on robots on a floor level.

Even if the robots are on a ramp elevation level (216), they still mayinclude a mechanism of moving to retrieve items from the user or therobots could be configured to have an extendable component which enablesthe robot to remain on an elevation level under the first shelf butextends the container out a sufficient amount to make it easy for theuser to place an item in the recipient container. In the example above,the robot simply moves into the aisle such that the user can place theitems in the recipient container on the robot.

Any number of mechanisms can be implemented in this context to make arecipient container more accessible for the user. For example, acontainer wall can be hinged such that the wall nearest to the user canrotate to make an opening more available and accessible to the user, arobot can move, a container can slide out from the robot which does notmove to make a container more accessible, and so forth.

In another aspect, the ramp and elevation level could also beretractable. For example, an air system could inflate the ramp structuresuch that robots could travel up the ramp to the elevation level suchthat their respective containers can be retrieved by the drawer deliveryrobot 226. The drawer delivery robot 226 can then deliver emptycontainers onto the robots at which point the inflated ramp coulddeflate such that the robots drop down to a floor level 218. Then, whenthe user comes in to transfer items from source containers to recipientcontainers on the robots, the robots can simply move out into the aisleto receive items transferred from the users. These and other conceptscould be utilized to make the recipient containers more accessible forthe users.

A system according to the above description can include a shelf 203positioned at a shelf level and above a floor level 218, a ramp 214starting at the floor level and transitioning from a floor level 218 toa first level between the floor level 218 and the shelf level, wherein arobot having a drawer configured on top can travel from the floor level218 up the ramp 214 to the first level without touching the shelf 203and a drawer handler robot having a drawer transitioning lower levelwhich is between the floor level 218 and the shelf level. The system caninclude a processor and a computer-readable medium storing instructionswhich, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to performoperations. The medium and processor may be in one or more robots (210,222, 226) and/or a control system 234 communicating with the variousrobots. The operations include providing a first instruction for therobot (210, 222) to travel up the ramp 214 to the first level,positioning the robot to move up the ramp 214 and to the first levelaccording to the first instruction, providing a second instruction forthe drawer handler robot 226 to retrieve the drawer configured on therobot, positioning, based on the second instruction, the drawer handlerrobot 226 near the robot 222 configured with the drawer and on the firstlevel and retrieving the drawer from the robot 222 on the first levelvia a drawer handler mechanism 224 configured on the drawer handlerrobot 226. The operations can also include replacing the drawerconfigured on the robot with a second drawer provided by the drawerhandler robot 226.

Another aspect of the system 200 is a communication unit 240 which cancommunicate information to and from the control center 234. Theinformation can include data about a status of containers on the shelves(203, 205), low-profile robots (210, 222), and other data. For example,feature 238 and feature 236 represent sensor units that can includegesture or movement sensors, weight sensors, light sensors, voicesensors, and so forth. For example, once robot 222 is in position on theelevated level 217, a sensor (e.g., 236, 238) can receive a confirmationthat it is there. The sensor (e.g., 236, 238) can also determine whetheran item of certain weight has been placed within the container 220.

With this basic understanding of the configuration of system 200, aconcept of container pre-staging shall be discussed next. An aspect ofthis disclosure involves the hybrid environment in which robots 226,222, 210 work together with humans to increase the scaling capacity andefficiency of a supply chain environment in which items need to be movedfrom one container to another to fulfill orders. In one aspect, apre-staging operation can be utilized to improve the efficiency of thesystem. For example, a drawer swapping unit 226 can be instructed andprovided with various containers that are to be positioned in certainspots within the rack 202. The control center 234 would know what itemswould be placed in respect of containers and also know the desired flowof items from one container to another such that items from differentorigination containers could be moved to the appropriate destinationcontainers for distribution and ultimate delivery to customers. Apre-staging operation can utilize the drawer swapping robot 226 toposition containers in an efficient manner in the rack system 202. Forexample, the drawer swapping system would position container 209,container 204, container 206, container 208, and so forth such that alow profile robot 222, as well as other low-profile robots, could beconfigured on a floor level 218 or on an elevated level 216, such that ahuman could start at the right hand side of rack 202 and receiveinstructions via audio, visual, virtual reality, augmented reality,haptic instructions, and so forth, to perform the following exampleoperations.

Having pre-staged source containers on the shelves and recipientcontainers on the low-profile robots, the user could then start withsource container 209 and be told to retrieve three items from thatcontainer and place them in the container 220. The user could utilize abarcode scanner to indicate when items have been appropriately retrievedfrom the source container 209 as well as appropriately delivered to thedestination container 220. Other approaches for accurately confirmingthe retrieval and delivery of items from one container to another shallbe discussed in more detail below.

Next, the user could retrieve items from source container 204 deliverthe items to a destination container 212 which can be configured orpositioned at location either on the floor level 218 or the elevation216. With respect to the pre-staging process, there are any number offactors that can come into play with respect to how the drawer swappingrobot 226 will pre-position containers. For example, having theknowledge of the type of items within respective containers, the drawerswapping robot 226 could be instructed to position containers that haveheavier items to transfer on the lowest shelf 203. Lighter items can beplaced on the higher shelf 205. Larger items may also be positioned onone shelf or another. The shape of some items might be more difficultfor a human to grasp. Accordingly, the shape could also indicate whichshelves a container will be positioned on.

In another aspect, containers may themselves have different shapesdepending on which shelf they are to be delivered to. For example, itmight be more difficult for a human user to reach up to shelf 205 andinto a container to retrieve items. Accordingly, a lower profilecontainer may be positioned on a higher shelf to enable user easieraccess. A transparency of a container may also relate to which shelf isplaced on. For example, because it might be more difficult to see what acontainer might include, a transparent container might be included on ahigher shelf and a nontransparent container may be included on lowershelves. A height of the user who is scheduled to manually handle thetransfer of items from source containers to destination containers couldalso be taken into account. For example, if a tall individual isscheduled to handle the transfer of items from source containers todestination containers and if the pre-staging is being prepared for thatindividual, then the system might pre-stage containers on three shelves,in as much as the taller user can access a higher third shelf. However,if a shorter individual is scheduled to handle the manual transfer ofitems from one container to another, the system can instruct the drawerswapping robot 226 to only pre-stage on two shelves.

Further, the system could also provide a balance with respect to thestress on the human from a physical perspective. For example, value canbe provided to humans where they do not have to perform the exact samemotions or movements on every shift. Thus, in some cases, thepre-staging of containers on shelves could be modified from shift toshift for an particular individual so that they have a differentphysical experience in transferring items from a source container to adestination container. For example, in one shift, heavier items may bepositioned on a lower shelf, whereas in a later shift, the heavier itemsmight be moved to a higher shelf. In yet another aspect, the system cantake into account the number of items to be moved. For example, onecontainer might include light items which might be appropriate for beingpre-staged on a higher shelf. However, there may be a higher number ofitems to be transferred from the source container to a destinationcontainer. Thus, because of the volume, the pre-staging process willcause the source container, say container 209, to be positioned asclosely as possible to the destination container 220.

Machine learning or artificial intelligence can be utilized to train apre-staging algorithm. The various data points with respect to one ormore of the parameters described above can be utilized, such that modelscan be trained to determine how efficiently or quickly, a humanindividual transfers items from a plurality of source containers to aplurality of destination containers based on various pre-staging models.Thus, the decisions with respect to how to pre-stage containers can bemachine learning driven.

In yet another example, the system may pre-stage, the container suchthat the user moves from left to right, the first manage the transfer ofitems from containers on shelf 203. Part of the pre-staging process alsoincludes pre-staging the lower profile robots 210, 222. For example, auser may start at container 209 and transfer fifteen items in thecontainer 220 on low-profile robot 222. While the user then moves tocontainer 208 and receives instructions to transfer five items fromcontainer 208 to container 212, which then could be positioned belowcontainer 208, if container 220 has received all the items necessary forthis transfer, low-profile robot 222 can move to its destinationlocation for delivering the items. A new robot may be moved into thesame position as robot 222, such that when the user is now processingthe items in the containers on shelf 205 from left to right, when theuser arrives at container 204 and is instructed to transfer six itemsfrom that container into the destination container, by that time a newrobot having a new destination container will be positioned underneathcontainer 209 and ready to retrieve the items. In other words, thepre-staging process not only includes the pre-staging of containers onappropriate shelves, but can also include a dynamic pre-staging andstaging of recipient containers below the shelves, based on theparticular flow of items through the system.

As is noted above, part of the pre-staging process could includelow-profile robots positioning themselves on the elevated level 216 toenable the drawer swapping robot 226 to retrieve containers fromrespective robots and the position them as needed on the shelves. Forexample, if six containers need to be pre-positioned on the shelves, andthe drawer swapping robot 226 can only hold three drawers, then thepre-staging process could include pre-staging three shelves onlow-profile robots on the elevation level 216 and including threeshelves within storage units 228, 230 on the drawer swapping robot 226.In this regard, the drawer swapping robot 226 only needs to make asingle trip to the rack of shelves 202, such that it can deliver itsthree containers to the appropriate position on the shelves and then itcan retrieve the additional three containers from the low-profile robotsat the location and position them respectively on the shelves. Thelow-profile robots could then retreat and proceed to receive emptyrecipient containers and return with those containers for receivingitems for ultimate delivery.

Part of the pre-staging process also takes into account the positioningof the human when transferring items from source containers todestination containers as well as the position of one or more robots.For example, to avoid collisions, the system can instruct the user tostart the transfer of items from source containers to destinationcontainers on all shelves starting from right to left as shown in FIG.2A. As the user moves from right to left, the drawer swapping robot 226could follow behind the user, and retrieve completed source containersand replace them with new source containers for an additional round oftransfers.

As can be appreciated, any of the factors described above in anycombination can be utilized as part of the pre-staging algorithm, whichcan be implemented to cause a container pre-staging operation inpreparation for human transfer of items from source container todestination containers. Of course another aspect, a robot could be alsoimplemented to transfer items from one container to another container.

Another aspect of the pre-staging could also include the concept of theramp structure 216 being inflatable and deflatable. In this scenario, aninflation system which can be represented as feature 217/240 of the racksystem, can be utilized to inflate the ramp system such that thelow-profile robots are at level 218. For example, feature 240 canrepresent a control unit that receives instructions to control aninflation or deflation of the ramp system 217. Component 240 couldinclude a compressor with air which can be connected to the ramp 216 toinflate it to its expanded position. Assume, for example, that thelow-profile robots have been utilized to deliver containers to thedrawer swapping robot 226 and that they have now received in exchangedestination containers for the user to provide items therein. At thispoint, there is no longer need for the robots to be at an elevatedposition. The ramp system 217 could then be deflated such that therobots are now at floor level 218 and ready to receive items into theirdestination containers. Any one or more of the factors or parametersdescribed above can be utilized to determine the movement of the drawerswapping robot 226, the movement of one or more low-profile robots 210,222, whether a respective robot is positioned on the ramp system 217,whether the ramp system is inflated or deflated, and of course where andin what position in the respective container is placed. With all of thedata with respect to the pre-staging of source containers in destinationcontainers, the control center 234 will then provide instructions to ahuman user with respect to how to transfer items from source containersto destination containers, in an efficient manner. Feature 221 canrepresent a gesture recognition system, a movement recognition system, alight, a scale, or any other component that can aid in a human picker orrobot being able to move items from one container to another or toposition a respective container on a shelf.

In this manner, in a hybrid environment, the system can easily andefficiently scale up such that the greater throughput can be availablerelative to a completely automated arrangement.

FIG. 2B illustrates an example pre-staging method. The method can beimplemented via a combination of a drawer swapping robot 226, a racksystem 202, one or more low-profile robots 210, 222, a control center234, communication units 232, 236, 238 and 211, a mechanism forproviding instruction to the individual user such as an audible unit, avirtual reality unit, augmented reality unit, a haptic unit, and amechanism for confirming a retrieval of items from a source containerand confirming a delivery of items to a destination container and/orother components as well.

An example method includes delivering a first container on a first shelfin a rack of shelves at a first position via a mobile robotic containerdelivery system (250), delivering a second container on the first shelfin the rack of shelves at a second position via the mobile roboticcontainer delivery system, wherein the first position is adjacent to thesecond position on the first shelf (252), delivering a third containervia a first mobile robot to a third position on a floor level, where inthe third position is generally underneath the first position (254),delivering a fourth container via a second mobile robot to a fourthposition on the floor level, wherein the fourth position is generallyunderneath the second position (256), providing a first instruction to auser to retrieve a first item from the first container for delivery tothe third container (258), moving the third container to a new positionon the floor level from underneath the first position to receive thefirst item from the user (260), providing a second instruction to theuser to retrieve a second item from the second container for delivery tothe fourth container (262) and moving the fourth container to a newposition on the floor from underneath the second position to receive thesecond item from the user (264).

The method can also include receiving a first confirmation that the userhas retrieved the first item from the first container and delivered thefirst item to the third container and receiving a second confirmationthat the user has retrieved the second item from the second containerand deliver the second item to the fourth container. The firstconfirmation and the second confirmation can be received via one or moreof a barcode scan, a motion detection indication, a voice or audibleindication, a tactile indication, a weight scale indication, alight-source based indication, or any other sensor or communicationsignal.

In another aspect, the method can further include delivering a fifthcontainer and a sixth container to the first shelf such that the firstcontainer, the second container, the third container, and the fourthcontainer are positioned in an order that corresponds to a positioningof the third container under the first container, and the fourthcontainer under the second container, and a seventh container under thefifth container and an eight container under the sixth container,wherein the user can receive instructions to retrieve items from thefirst container, the second container, the fifth container, and thesixth container, in order. The instructions can identify destinationcontainers for the items retrieved by the user from the first container,the second container, the fifth container, and the sixth container. Forexample, the instructions can indicate that the items retrieved from thefirst container, the second container, the fifth container, and thesixth container should be deposited in the third container, the fourthcontainer, the seventh container, and/or the eighth container. The usercan then deposited the retrieved items accordingly based on theinstructions.

In another aspect, providing the first instruction and providing thesecond instruction can occur via one or more of an audible instruction,a virtual/augmented reality instruction, a haptic instruction, alight-based instruction, a video-based instruction, etc. For example,the first and/or second instructions can be provided as an audioinstruction outputted via a speaker device, a graphical instructionpresented on a display device, haptic instructions, virtual realityinstructions, augmented reality instructions, etc. In some cases, thefirst confirmation and the second confirmation can be received via amotion detection sensor configured on the floor level and/or the firstshelf.

The mobile robotic container delivery system can further deliver aplurality of containers between the first shelf and a second shelf. Theplurality of containers can be positioned in a manner such that the usercan retrieve items from the plurality of containers distributed amongstthe first shelf in the second shelf in order of each respective positionof the plurality of containers.

FIG. 2C illustrates another method embodiment. The method includesdelivering a plurality of source containers, via a mobile roboticcontainer delivery system, to a first shelf and a second shelf, and in aparticular order, wherein each respective source container has arespective position on one of the first shelf or the second shelf (270),and delivering a plurality of recipient containers on a floor levelbelow the first shelf, wherein each recipient container of the pluralityof recipient containers is configured on a respective mobile robot(272).

The method further includes providing instructions to a user to retrievean item from a first respective source container on one of the firstshelf or the second shelf (274), moving a respective first recipientcontainer on its respective first mobile robot out from underneath thefirst shelf to receive the item retrieved from the respective firstsource container (276) and receiving a confirmation that the item hasbeen retrieved from the respective first source container and placed inthe respective first recipient container by the user (278).

In some configurations, the confirmation can be received at a controlcenter 234 by virtue of a scanning device that the user uses to scan abar code on each source container and recipient container. In otherconfigurations, the confirmation can be received at the control center234 via a signal from a sensor or device that has determined that theitem has been retrieved and deposited as instructed. For example, amotion sensing system 238, 236 can be employed such that data can becommunicated via a communication unit 240 either wired or wirelessly toa control center 234 that can provide confirmation of the transfer ofitems from a source container to a destination container. Any mechanismof confirmation can be provided, including such features as visualconfirmation, a weight scale identification, which can include scalesbelow each container that can confirm whether a container is lighterbecause one item was retrieved therefrom or whether a container hasreceived an item based on the additional weight within the container. Inthis regard, the system can include a scale on respective shelves and onrobots such that a weight of each item within a source container or aweight of an item expected to be placed within the destination containercould be determined in advance, such that the system knows when itemsare retrieved or delivered to containers.

Furthermore, an approach that uses scales for determining the weight ofitems can also capture errors. For example, if a user is supposed toretrieve two items from container 209 and placed them in container 220,and the weight of each item is known (or estimated) by the system 234,if the user only retrieves a single item from container 209, the systemcan remind the user to retrieve two items. Motion detection algorithmscan also be utilized to potentially determine whether the user iscarrying two items or retrieves one item at a time.

The method can further include providing instructions to the user toretrieve a second item from a second respective source container on oneof the first shelf or the second shelf, moving a respective secondrecipient container on its respective second mobile robot out fromunderneath the first shelf to receive the second item retrieved from therespective second source container and receiving a confirmation that thesecond item has been retrieved from the respective second sourcecontainer and placed in the respective second recipient container by theuser.

FIG. 2D illustrates another aspect of this disclosure. In a system 280,a rack of shelves 202 includes an elevator system 204. The elevatorsystem 204 is utilized to elevate mobile robots onto respective shelves203/205. The elevator system 204 can include the basic components of anyelevator system, such as an elevator floor, an elevator car (which caninclude the elevator floor), a motor system, cabling, a control system,a supporting framework, attachment mechanisms to connect an elevator carto a supporting framework to enable the elevator car to go up and down,control mechanisms, and so forth which can be utilized to elevate theelevator floor from a floor level to a respective shelf level. Variousmechanical components associated with the elevator system, known tothose of skill the art, can be utilized to implement the elevatorsystem.

The elevator system 204 can have a number of different structures orcomponents. For example, the profile of the elevator system may beessentially just large enough to receive a mobile robot 220/222. Themobile robot can move on to an elevator floor and be raised to theassigned shelf. The elevator floor can be part of an elevator car thatis movably attached to an elevator system framework. The mobile robotcan include a communication mechanism 223 which can communicate with acommunication module 296 on the elevator system 204 to identify thedestination level. The elevator system 204 that will raise the mobilerobot can be autonomous in that the mobile robot may contain and providethe instruction to the elevator system 204 through a wirelesscommunication module. The communication module 223 on the mobile robotcan wirelessly communicate with the communication module 296 on theelevator system 204 to provide such instructions. The elevator system204 can be considered a robot as well.

The elevator system 204 can be constructed such that there are no doors.This can enable a mobile robot 282 to easily roll onto the elevatorfloor. In one aspect, the elevator system 204 can be constructed suchthat the mobile robot 282 can enter from any direction that isavailable. For example, in FIG. 2D, a mobile robot could move on to theelevator floor from the floor level of the shelf system 202, such thatmobile robot 286 could simply move to the right and onto the elevatorfloor. The elevator system 204 could also be configured such that mobilerobot 286, which is clearly not already positioned within the shelfsystem 202, could enter the elevator system from any of the other threedirections. For example, the mobile robot 282 could enter from the frontof the elevator system 204, or from the right side or from the back sideof the elevator system 204.

The communication protocol which is used to communicate signals betweenthe elevator system 204 and the mobile robot can include any knownprotocol such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ultra-Wide Band protocols, IR, nearfield communication, and so forth. As in other embodiments, modules290/221/236 can be implemented in the shelf system 202 to enable a humanpicker or an automated robotic picker to move items from one bin toanother once the various bins are positioned on the shelves. Mobilerobots 292/294/286/288 represent robots that have been moved into theirproper position, either on the floor or on an elevated shelf 203, 205raised up by the elevator system 204. Mobile robot 286, with itscommunication module 284, represents a next mobile robot that will rollonto the elevator floor after mobile robot 220/222 has arrived at itsshelf.

In another aspect, a control center 234 can coordinate the operations ofthe elevator system 204 through its communication module with theelevator communication module 296. In this respect, the control center234 can monitor the movement of mobile robots such that as a mobilerobot moves on to the elevator floor, the control center 234 willprovide instructions regarding which shelf to elevate the mobile robotto system mobile robot can then move from the elevator floor to therespective shelves 203, 205. The control center 234 can also coordinatemultiple robots accessing the elevator system 204 to be positioned onrespective shelves such that the movement of each respective mobilerobot can be coordinated for efficient use of the elevator system,particularly when the elevator system 204 only moves a single robot at atime.

In one embodiment, the size of the elevator floor or the footprint ofthe elevator system 204 is configured to be just large enough to receivea mobile robot. In another embodiment, the elevator system 204 could belarger, such that multiple mobile robots can be simultaneously elevated.

Communication regarding the movement of mobile robots, their contents,whether they include bins that include items for distribution to otherbins, data about human pictures that will be used, to move items fromone bin to another, data about automated pickers, or any other datarelated to the movements of items throughout a warehouse can becommunicated between individual respective mobile robots, a controlmodule 240 on a shelf system 202, the communication module 296associated with an elevator system 204, a control center 234, and/or anyother components utilized in the system. All such transmissions,requests for data, confirmations, instructions, updated instructions,and any similar communications are included as within the scope of thisdisclosure, whether in a system embodiment or in a method embodimentthat can be claimed.

In another aspect, FIG. 2D could also include separate ramps to eachlevel. For example, on the left of the shelf system 202, a ramp 296could be provided from a floor level to the first shelf 203 in anotherramp 298 could be provided to the second shelf 205. These ramps 296/298would be provided at appropriate angles for mobile robots to be able tomove up the ramp to the appropriate respective shelves. Ramps could beused exclusively to enable mobile robots to move to respective shelf orthe ramps could be used in connection with the elevator system 204, suchthat some mobile robots may receive instructions to move to a respectiveshelf using a ramp while other mobile robots may be instructed to moveto the same respective shelf or different shelf using the elevatorsystem 204.

With the existence of the elevator system 204 and/or a ramp componentfor access to the shelves, the availability of these mechanisms can beprovided to the central control system and/or the different mobilerobots such that the availability of these elevation mechanisms can beutilized by the mobile robots. Thus, for example, if a respective mobilerobot is assigned to move its been containing items for picking, to thethird shelf, position number four, the mobile robot may determine theavailable routes in order to travel to the third shelf and then move inthat direction. If a ramp is available, information about any one ormore of the elevation, the slope, the width, can be received such thatthe mobile robot can determine whether it is safe to use the ramp. Themobile robot may determine that, based on some factor, such as theweight of its payload or the height of the items within its bin, thatthe elevator system 204 should be used.

Other mechanisms could also be utilized in order to implement variousways of getting mobile robots up to a respective shelf for efficient usein providing items for picking or receiving items that have been picked.For example, escalator systems, temporarily extendable and retractableramps from a respective shelf level, pulley systems, extendible andretractable shelves to receive/deliver robots to a pulley system,drones, and so forth could be implemented in the environment for thepurpose of elevating mobile robots from a floor level to respectiveshelf.

In one scenario, a respective mobile robot having a bin 220 can beinstructed to move to certain position on a shelf and remain there toprovide items or to receive items into it bin. In this scenario, theentire mobile robot including a respective bin 220 would remain on theshelf and its assigned position for the picking operation. After thepicking operation in which a respective mobile robot contributed itemsor received items in respective bin, the mobile robot within retreatdown a ramp or via the elevator system 204. In another aspect, themobile robot could be configured to deposit a bin at a shelf or floorlocation for providing or receiving items in the later retrieve the binand carry it to a new destination.

The positioning of the mobile robots can have bearing on whether apicker picks from the mobile robot bin or deposits items in a respectivemobile robot bin. It would be preferable to have mobile robots move onto shelves 203/205 at a higher elevation that have items that need to bepicked. Mobile robots 286/288 can be positioned on a floor level suchthat a human picker can retrieve items from the respective bin of mobilerobot 292/294, which are positioned at a higher elevation and place theitems into the bins of mobile robots 286/288. A benefit of this approachis that a human picker or an automated picker is moving items from ahigher elevation down with the help of gravity to a lower level. This isan ergonomic advantage in that human pictures do not need to list itemsup from a lower level to a higher level. The positioning of the mobilerobot having a bin on a particular shelf can be determined at least inpart, based on a height or physical characteristic of a human pickerthat will be picking items from the bin. For example, a tall human mightbe scheduled to work and the mobile robots can therefore move to ahigher shelf than would be reachable by a shorter person.

In another aspect, the mobile robot may deposit the bin 220 on the shelfor on the floor and then retreat without the bin. In another aspect, abin 220 may be on a shelf, and may have received the various items thatare needed and a mobile robot 222 can be sent to retrieve the bin 220for movement to another location.

Method aspects associated with the use of ramps, elevators, or otherelevation mechanisms can include the various steps needed to provideinstructions to mobile robot to move to certain location to be elevatedto an appropriate shelf, raising the mobile robot up to the assignedshelf via an elevator system, and causing the mobile robot to move fromthe elevator system to a specific position on the assigned shelf. Themanagement of the movement can include providing specific instructionsto a respective mobile robot, which can then utilize wirelesscommunication mechanisms to instruct the elevator system 204 regardingwhat level to raise that respective mobile robot to. A centralcontroller 234 can also send and receive instructions to the variouscomponents for managing the movement of respective mobile robots throughthe system. All communication messages, such as requests, instructions,responses, confirmations, and so forth, are included as within the scopeof this disclosure and included within method embodiments for enablingthe movement of mobile robots through the system, of elevators, ramps,or other elevation mechanisms, to respective locations such that pickerscan move items from a source bin to a delivery bin. All suchcommunication messages can also include a retreat phase where mobilerobots retreat from the respective assigned location on the shelf to anew location or where the mobile robots retrieve bins that are inrespective locations on shelves.

Claims can be drafted from the standpoint of any component within thisoverall environment. For example, one embodiment could be from thestandpoint of a mobile robot that provides instructions to an elevatoridentifying a destination shelf, and receiving a confirmationcommunication from a communication module on the elevator system.Another embodiment can include a method from the standpoint of theelevator system that receives a wireless indication from a mobile robotthat identifies a destination shelf for the mobile robot, and provides aconfirmation indication to the mobile robot, and then proceeds totransport the mobile robot to the appropriate destination shelf. Yetanother embodiment could be from the standpoint of a central controllersystem that provides instructions and receives communications withrespect to the movement of the mobile robot to an elevator system suchthat the elevator system can elevate the mobile robot to an appropriateshelf level. Systems could also be configured to include any twocomponents, such as the elevator system and mobile robot together as ajoint “system” performing the functions disclosed herein. A “system” canalso include the shelf system 202 and the connected elevator system 204.

Other characteristics of the elevator can be as follows. The elevatorcan be connected only at the corners to the elevator framework. Thisleaves open each side for ingress and egress of mobile robots. Theelevator floor can be configured such that when the elevator ispositioned on the floor level that robots can roll onto and off of theelevator floor from the surrounding floor surface. The elevator systemcan have an elevator car that has an elevator floor and elevator ceiling(not shown). A pulley or cable can be connected to the elevator ceilingand a motor system for elevating the elevator car. In some aspects, theelevator can also be characterized by what it does not have. Theelevator in one case does not have any doors or control buttons. Thereis no need for control buttons in one aspect, because mobile robots willcommunicate with a control module associated with the elevator systemvia a wireless communication mechanism, thus eliminating the need formanual buttons.

In another aspect, the elevator could be configured with the mechanicalstructure similar to a forklift. In this aspect, and elevator floorwould be connected on one side to a structure for elevating the elevatorfloor. The elevator floor would not have a “fork” structure, but wouldbe flat, such that a mobile robot could roll onto it from a floor level.The elevator floor would be open on three sides such that mobile robotscould enter and leave from any of the sides. The elevator in thestructure within raise the mobile robot to a particular shelf level suchthat a surface of a respective shelf coincides with the elevator floorsuch that the mobile robot can move on to the respective shelf and intoan appropriate position.

FIG. 2E illustrates a method embodiment related to elevator usage. Themethod includes receiving an instruction via a wireless communicationprotocol from a mobile robot (271), wherein the instruction is receivedvia a wireless module on an elevator system attached to a rack ofshelves, receiving the mobile robot on elevator floor associated withthe elevator system (273), raising the elevator floor to a respectiveshelf based on the instruction (275). The method can include returningthe elevator floor to a default level after delivering the mobile robotto its destination shelf. The method can also include receivinginstructions from a central control system regarding any movement of theelevator such as which level to bring a mobile robot to, which level thepick of robot from, and so forth.

FIG. 3A illustrates a user 316 who will implement the transfer of itemsfrom source containers 304, 306, 308, 310 to destination containers 312,314, 322. In this embodiment, it is assumed that containers on a shelfare properly positioned and that robots on the floor with containers areproperly positioned as well. This figure illustrates a top view 300 of arack of shelves 302 with containers 304, 306, 308, 310. A communicationunit 324 can communicate with the control center 320. The aspect of thedisclosure that is illustrated in this figure includes a movement of thelow-profile robots 210, 222 on a floor level 318 to make easier thetransfer of items from a respective source container to a respectivedestination container which is configured on a respective robot. Theuser 316 is given instructions via a virtual/augmented reality headset326, audible instructions, visual instructions, and so forth. In theexample shown in FIG. 3A, the user 316 is given instructions to move anitem from container 306 and place it in recipient container 312. Theuser is standing in the aisle in front of the rack of shelves 302. Tomake the transfer of items easier, a robot that has configured on therecipient container 312 moves out into the aisle. Thus, the user doesnot have to reach underneath the lowest shelf to place the item in therecipient container 312. Further, the user may only be told to retrieveand place two items from container 306 into each recipient container.The system could cause recipient container 312 to be moved into theaisle as well as recipient container 314. Thus, which containers receivethe designated number of items can be identified to the user by virtueof which containers are moved into the aisle. The user can use a barcodereader 324, or any other mechanism disclosed herein, to confirm that theappropriate number of items are retrieved from the source container anddelivered to the appropriate destination container or destinationcontainers. The robots, having received and confirmed the items in theirrespective containers, will slide back underneath the shelf so they areno longer protruding into the aisle. Feature 322 illustrates that arobot is underneath container 310, but has not yet moved at leastpartially into the aisle to retrieve items. Feature 322 could representthe next container that will be receiving items from the user 316. Forexample, once container 312 and 314 retreat back under the shelf, theuser could be instructed to retrieve five items from container 310 andplace them in the destination container. At this stage, container 322could move partially into the aisle thus indicating that it is thecontainer that should receive the five items from container 310.

It is noted that the system can also adjust the amount of movement ofthe robots into position to receive items in their respectivecontainers. For example, for single or small items, the robot may onlyneed to move a small amount into the aisle to make the recipientcontainer easily accessible for the user. Larger items may require therobot to move more into the aisle. A particular configuration of adestination container may also be an indicator of how much the system320 will instruct a low-profile robot to move into the aisle forreceiving items from the user. Furthermore, one or more usercharacteristics such as their height, their weight, their arm length,their age, their gender, their historical information with respect tohow they manually transfer items from one container to another, etc.,can all be taken into account in a determination of how much to move arobot into the aisle for that particular user.

Additionally, as can be seen in FIG. 3A, having a recipient containermove into the aisle right in front of the user 316 might be problematic.For example, if the user was retrieving an item from container 306 and alow-profile robot was immediately under container 306 and then movedinto the aisle to retrieve an item, the robot might literally run intothe user 316. This particular issue might have bearing or be moreimportant for a user with a short arm length. Thus, user characteristicssuch as their height and arm length can have bearing on whether arecipient container would ever be moved into the aisle in a positionright in front of the user for receiving items. Thus, the system canconfigure a positioning of destination containers underneath the shelvesin such a way as to be more efficient for individual users. A short userwith a short arm length might only have movement of destinationcontainers on an adjacent position as is shown in FIG. 3A. A taller userwith a longer arm length might have destination containers moved intoposition directly in front of them for dropping in items as instructed.

The containers as disclosed herein can also be modified to aid in theefficiency of the process. Containers can include sensors such as motiondetectors, weight detectors, light detectors, GPS locators, ID tags,barcodes, scanners, and so forth.

In another aspect, FIG. 3A can represent another approach to what can becalled hybrid zone picking. In this scenario, a robot can bring a cartto a right side of an aisle having a shelf 302 with source bins304/306/308/310. Feature 320 of FIG. 3A in this case can represent arobot delivering the cart. Of course the cart can be delivered to anydesired location. The human 316 can push the cart through the aislepicking the right items from the various respective source bins asinstructed and then can drop the cart off at the end of the aisle, onthe left side of FIG. 3A, for a robot to then take to its next pickinglocation or if done, to packing and shipping.

This hybrid zone picking approach can be achieved via the systemutilizing a mobile robot to first deliver the cart having a destinationbin to a particular location associated with an aisle or within theaisle, which is appropriate for a human user to begin pushing the cartthrough the aisle and picking items for placement within the cart or abin on the cart. The cart can have location based technology built intothe cart such that the system can track the movement of the cart throughthe aisle. The cart may also not have any such tracking technology butthe system may utilize a device 324/326 associated with the user thatcan identify the user's movement, and thus the cart's movement, down theaisle. Such tracking can aid the system such that a robot can retrievethe cart at the end of the aisle or at the end of the picking operationfor that aisle. The system instructs a pick-up robot to retrieve thecart and move it to its next picking location or to packing andshipping.

As noted above, such a cart may have no special technology associatedwith the cart for tracking or other purposes. However, given the use ofthe cart, as disclosed herein, the cart could have special technologybuilt-in, such as location-based technologies, gesture detectingtechnologies, fingerprint readers for identifying the user pushing thecart, facial recognition technology for identifying the user, weightdetecting technologies, such as scales, to identify if the appropriateamount of expected items are placed within the cart, and so forth. Thecart could also be a robot in itself, such that the user might not evenneed to push the cart manually but can maintain their hands free to pickitems from source bins to the cart.

For example, the cart could be configured with a module that detects adistance that the cart is away from a waste or a middle section of thehuman user. Robotic technology on the cart, could be configured tomaintain a 10 inch distance away from where the user is standing. Inthis respect, the user could have the cart configured in front of him orher and walked down the aisle picking items from source bins 308 or 310and place the items from the source bins into the cart while the cartautomatically maintaining a distance of 10 inches in front of the user.This process and technology would eliminate the need of the user tomanually place their hands on the cart to push the cart forward andwould free up the user's hands to be more efficient and picking itemsand placing them in the cart. The cart may also have communicationscapabilities to communicate with the system, a central controller, userdevices, devices on a shelf system 302, devices within source bins, orany other component within the warehouse disclosed herein.

In one aspect, the cart itself is part of or is moved by a mobile robotthrough the aisles as described or can be a “dumb” cart that is moved tothe proper location by a robot, manually handled by the user, andretrieved by a robot as described above.

The system moves the cart, in the various ways described above, to theproper destination within an aisle, knowing the items to be picked fromsource bins and to be placed within the cart. The system can evaluateand track the performance of the user such that a confirmation can beachieved that the expected items were accurately picked from the propersource bins and placed within the cart. Devices associated with the usercan provide instructions and directions as disclosed herein, to performthe picking operation. Assuming that the picking operation wassuccessful or successful, to a certain threshold, the system can thenretrieve the cart via a robot for its next destination as described.

FIG. 3B illustrates another method embodiment. A method in this regardincludes receiving an identification, from a user, of a source containeron the shelf, the identification indicating that one or more items inthe source container will be moved from the source container to adestination container on a first robot, the first robot being at a firstposition on a floor under the shelf, wherein a second robot is alsopositioned on the floor under the shelf (340). Based on theidentification, a system (1) causes the first robot to move at leastpartially from the first position on the floor under the shelf to asecond position which causes the destination container to be accessibleto the user (342), (2) receives a confirmation that the user hastransferred a product from the source container to the destinationcontainer on the robot (344) and, (3) based on the confirmation, movesthe robot from the second position to a third position under the shelf(346).

The first position and the third position are approximately the sameposition. A first bar code scan of a bar code on the source containercan be used to receive the first identification and a second bar codescan can be used to receive the confirmation. Other mechanisms can alsobe implemented for providing confirmation of the transfer of items fromone container to another. For example, a first motion detector can beused to receive the identification, and a second motion detector is usedto receive the confirmation. The steps can be iteratively applied, suchthat multiple items from different containers can be moved from therespective source container on a shelf to a respective recipientcontainer positioned on a robot on the floor. In another aspect, anindication can be given to the user to retrieve an item from aparticular container, and deposited in a particular destinationcontainer.

In yet another aspect, motion detection can be utilized such that a usermay simply reach into a first source container which can trigger thecontrol system to identify which source container is being accessed, atwhich point the instruction can be provided to the user and to one ormore robots on the floor to indicate how many items the user shouldretrieve from the source container and how many items to place into eachof one or more robots which move into a new position on the floor toretrieve one or more items. Thus, in this regard, the user may not beconfined to accessing the source containers in any particular order, oraccording to any particular instruction. If there are multiple shelves,each containing source containers, the user can simply start and accessthe containers on any shelf as they desire and receive dynamic andrelative instructions with respect to how many items to retrieve fromeach container and where to deliver those items based on which robotsmove from underneath the shelf in these partially into an aisle forretrieving the items.

The method can include iteratively applying the receiving of theidentification step, the causing the first robot to move, and thereceiving of the confirmation steps for a plurality of source containersand a plurality of robots having a plurality of destination containers.

The plurality of robots can be positioned on either the floor or a firstshelf above the floor and accessible by a ramp. A robot can position thesource container and a plurality of source containers on one or moreshelves such that the user can transfer product from the sourcecontainer and the plurality of source containers in succession. Aproduct characteristic can be used to base a source container positionof the source container on the shelf relative to a second shelf andrelative to other source containers having other products.

FIG. 4A illustrates another aspect of this disclosure, including thesystem 400. The system 400 illustrates in more detail a specializedshelving system 402. Shown in this figure are a number of sourcecontainers 404, 406, 408, 410. A first shelf 403 and a second shelf 45are shown as well. This figure also shows confirmation units 412, 414,416, 418 and 420. As noted above, these can represent a number ofdifferent types of confirmation units. For example, each of these unitscan represent a scale that the respective container rests upon. Thescale can be used to identify whether items have been added to arespective container or remove can route from a respective container andhow many items were added or removed. The respective component can alsorecord a timing of when the item is removed and how long it takes toremove or add the item. In some respects, the respective component canbe positioned below a respective container for purposes of managing anddetermining the weight.

In another aspect, for example, component 416 can be positioned above acontainer 408 and can be utilized for motion detection. In this regard,the system could be implemented such that the user can simply stand atthe rack 402 and start to reach in the container 408. The user mightsimply be moving from right to left and from container to a container.In this aspect, the user can simply begin to reach into container 408,and a detection component 416 can identify that the user is beginning atthat container. The system can also include a gaze detection systemwhich can detect where a user is looking and thereby process thatinformation to determine what information to feed to the user. Thesystem, based on the motion data or the gaze data, can then instruct theuser via a mechanism such as virtual/augmented reality goggles 442, oran audible headset, or some other means that they need to retrieve andplace two items from container 408 to each of containers 430 andcontainer 426. It is noted that a headset 444 can also be used for voicepicking as well. The user in that case would wear headphones that may ormay not also include a microphone for receiving voice input from theuser. The headphones can provide audible instructions to the user andthe microphone can receive voice confirmations, commands, questions, andso forth from the user. The headset can include attached or separatecommunication module, which can communicate with the central controller,such that instructions can be provided in audible signals to becommunicated between the headset and central controller for managing apicking operation by a user. These containers are respectivelypositioned on low-profile robots 428 and 424. The person could thensimply reach into container 426 and immediately be told to grab threeitems from that container and place them in the container 430. Each ofthe mobile low-profile robots can include a control or communicationunit 436 as is shown on robot 432 having container 434. The variouscomponents in the shelving rack 402, respective low-profile robots 424,428 and 432 as well as a drawer swapping robot 440 can communicatewirelessly or in a wired manner with a control center 438 which cancoordinate the movement of the low-profile robots to the respectivepositions and coordinate instructions to an individual (e.g., 442) tomove items from a source container to a destination container.

In one example, the sensing unit 414 can be a motion detector that candetect the recipient motion of an item being placed into recipientcontainer 426. Component 438 represents a scanner that the user can useto scan barcodes on respective containers when items are retrieved fromthe respective container and placed within a respective destinationcontainer. For example, the user can hold the barcode reader 438 intheir left-hand and use the right hand to retrieve and deliver itemsbetween containers. All of the movement of items and the confirmationdata is coordinated with the control center 438.

FIG. 4B illustrates a method embodiment in the context of the controlcenter 438 receiving data and providing instructions. In one aspect, themethod relates to how to provide instructions to the system which caninclude one or more low-profile robots 424, 428, 432, and how theyshould position themselves for easy reception of items in theirrespective destination container 426 430, 434. A control center 438receives data from one or more indicators, such as a scanner 438 orvarious sensors 416, 418 it provides instructions to a user viamechanism such as an audible system, virtual/augmented reality glasses442, a headset 44, or other means. The system 438 can also receivewireless data from a communication unit 422 associated with the rack ofshelves 402.

The steps of the method occur within the control center 438, but caninvolve communication to or from any of these components. The methodincludes receiving an indication that the user is going to retrieve oneor more items from a source container on a shelf (450), identifying theone or more items based on the indication, and accessing a database thatidentifies a number of the items, and a destination container of thenumber of items (452). In one example, the database that identifieswhere items should flow through a warehouse can include instructions ordata such as that five bars of soap need to be transferred from a sourcecontainer 416 to each of a destination container 430, 434. The controlcenter 438 will access this information. Based on this information,several tasks may occur. These operations include instructing the userto retrieve a certain number of items from the source container (454).As noted above, this can include an audible instruction, avirtual/augmented reality instruction, a haptic instruction, a lightbased instruction, a graphical user interface instruction, and so forth.There are any number of mechanisms by which the user can be instructedto retrieve a certain number of items from the source container.

Next, the user needs to know where the items are to be delivered. Thecontrol center 438 can then instruct a low-profile robot 428 to move adistance (e.g., 6 inches) into the aisle (456). This movement canrepresent an indication to the user of the destination location for theitems. The user would then place the designated number of items into thedestination container 430. The method next includes receiving aconfirmation that the one or more items have been placed in thedestination container (458). The confirmation can occur in any number ofways as disclosed herein.

Based on the confirmation, the method includes moving the robot 428 backunderneath the shelf 403 and out of the aisle (460). Other steps in thisprocess could include providing instructions to two or more low-profilerobots such that the user knows if two robots are moved out into theaisle, that they should each receive a number of items. The number ofitems may be the same or different. This process is repeated as the usercontinues on to each source container 404, 410, 408, and so forth. Thus,the user only needs to identify the source container that they are nowfocused on in the system will dynamically provide both the instructionson how many items to retrieve, and provide, or cause the movement of theappropriate robot to identify a recipient location for the items. Theinstruction to the user can identify which robot to deposit items withas well.

The positioning of the robots on the floor can also be such that aparticular robot may retrieve all of the items that it needs and canthus move to another destination for processing those items. Forexample, if the user retrieves five items from source container 406 andten items from source container 408 and places all of those items into adestination container 434, those may be the complete items needed in thedestination container 434. In that case, robot 432 can receiveinstructions via its communication unit 436 to move to a new location todeliver the items for shipment to a customer or some other location.Meanwhile, a replacement robot can be moved into position of above thesensor 420 or below the container 408 and can be ready to receiveinstructions from the control center 438 with respect to when it shouldmove into the aisle to retrieve additional items as the user processesthe source containers.

FIG. 5A illustrates another example system 500. This embodiment involvesutilizing a suction cup robot 502 having only 2 degrees of freedom inwhich is positioned to interact with multiple robots 544, 534, 538, eachof which has a container 542, 516, 536 configured thereon, such thatmultiple robots will move into position and the suction cup robot willretrieve items from a source container 516 and deliver them to adestination container 542, 536. The suction cup robot 502 includes amechanism which enables a suction head 510 to be moved in a horizontaldirection 504, as well as in the vertical direction 506. A structure 508can be attached to the suction unit 510. An airline 512 can be connectedto a suction unit 514 such that when the suction unit 510, which has aflexible ribbing and an open middle area, comes into contact with anitem, such as item 520, that unit 514 because of the air pressure withinthe suction end 510 to reduce and thus attach item 520. As can beappreciated, because of the flexible rib nature of the walls of thesuction end 510, when it comes into contact with an item 518 or item 522that has an angled surface, it can be flexible and still aligned itssurface 511 with the surface of the item. Then, the suction unit 514 candraw the air out of the suction unit 510 and cause an attachment to therespective item. It is noted that within unit 508, a video camera 524can be included such that the configuration of the various items withinsource container 516 can be viewed and the positioning of the suctionend 510 can be more strategic. A video feed from the camera 524 can beprovided to a communication unit 528 via a communication cable 530 orother wireless means. The control center 526 can control the number ofitems retrieved from the source container 516 and delivered to one ormore destination containers 542, 536.

FIG. 5A illustrates one item 550 in a destination container 542 andanother item 548 in a destination container 536. FIG. 5B illustrates amethod aspect of this disclosure. A method involving the two dimensionalsuction robot disclosed in FIG. 5A includes positioning a sourcecontainer under a suction robot having two degrees of freedom only, thesuction robot having a flexible suction end having a variable suctioncomponent that can cause suction to occur within the suction end uponcontact with an item in the source container, wherein the contact can benon-orthogonal of an end of the flexible suction and a surface of theproduct (550).

The method can involve retrieving the item from the source containerwith the flexible suction end by lowering the flexible suction end intothe source container to retrieve the item to yield a retrieved item(552), lifting the retrieved item from the source container from a lowerposition to a higher position and moving the retrieved item horizontallyfrom the source container to a destination container, wherein the sourcecontainer is associated with a source robot and the destinationcontainer is associated with a destination robot (554).

The source robot can be moved into a position under the flexible suctionend as directed by a control entity. The destination robot can be movedinto a second position near the first position such that the suctionrobot can transfer the retrieved item to the destination container. Themethod can further include providing, via a control entity, a number ofitems to be moved from the source container to the destinationcontainer. The method can also include moving a first retrieved itemfrom the source container to a first destination container (556) andmoving a second retrieved item from the source container to a seconddestination container, wherein the second destination container is in adifferent position than the first destination container (558).

In one aspect, the flexible suction end includes a central open portionhaving a camera that is positioned to view the item from a viewpoint ofthe flexible suction end. In this regard, the method can includeretrieving the item from the source container with the flexible suctionend by lowering the flexible suction and into the source containerutilizing feedback at a control entity from the camera that ispositioned to view the item from the viewpoint of the flexible suctionend. The feedback from the camera can include video, images, audio, etc.The feedback can capture positioning information (e.g., a position ofthe item, a position of the flexible suction end, a position of acontainer, a texture of a surface of a container of an item, etc.), sizeinformation, context information (e.g., surrounding conditions, etc.),movement, and so forth.

Another aspect of this disclosure can include a method performed by thecontrol center 526. The control center can provide instructions to thesuction robot 502 with respect to how many items to retrieve from asource container 516 and where to place a respective number of itemswith respect to one or more destination containers 542 and 536. In thisregard, the control center can manage or instruct robots to move intoeither an initial position as a source container or into a position as adestination container. Then, the control center 526 can provideinstructions to the suction robot 512, with respect to the number ofitems to move from one container to another container. The sourcecontainer does not have to be in the middle of the suction robot 502 asis container 516. For efficiency, the control center could have an openposition, for example, where robot 538 is shown in FIG. 5A. This couldbe because a destination container 536 could have received all of thenecessary items at the station of the suction robot 502 and may havemoved on to another destination. The control center 526 could causeinstructions to a robot to retrieve a source container having fortyitems for delivery to one or more destination containers. Thus, thecontrol center 526 could move the source container into the positionwhere robot 538 is shown. The suction robot 502 would then receiveinstructions that the new source container is found in that position andonce recipient containers are positioned elsewhere in the properpositions, the suction robot 502 can initiate the transfer of items fromthe new source container to new destination containers. The controlcenter 526 has a larger view of the overall movement of items throughthe warehouse, and thus can position source containers in destinationcontainers as necessary.

FIG. 6A illustrates another aspect of this disclosure. An ergonomicapproach 600 is disclosed to enable a person 630 to transfer items froma source container 608 to a destination container 610 from a sitting orstanding position via the control of robots being positioned in aneasily accessible location around the user 630. For example, the usercould be sitting on a chair and multiple elevations of semicircularshelves around the user could be configured such that robots configuredwith containers 606, 608, 610, 604, 602 can move in position themselveswith an easy arm reach 628 of the user. Virtual/augmented realitygoggles 624, audible instructions, haptic instructions, light basedinstructions, or any combination thereof can then instruct the user totransfer one or more items from a source container 608 configured on arobot to one or more destination containers 610 or 606 configured onother robots. Once a transfer is complete, the one or more robots canthen retreat to other destinations, and other robots can be positionedfor additional transfers. Example items 616, 618, 612, 614, 622, 620 areshown. The control center 626 manages the instructions to robots to moveinto respective positions and then coordinates the instructions to theuser 630. A unit 625 can be used to scan a container that is the currentfocus of the user 630 such that instructions can be triggered based onthe scanning event on what to do with respect to items being moved. Thedevice 625 can also be used to confirm when actions have been completed.Motion detection, weight scales, verbal commands, can also be built intothe system such that confirmations and instructions can be moreefficient. The scheduling and positioning of robots can also take intoaccount the particular worker 630 and their arm span 628, height, workhistory, need for adjustment of the types of repetitive movement that isneeded, and so forth.

FIG. 6B illustrates a method aspect of this disclosure. A method in thisregard includes identifying a central location of a user who willtransfer items from a first container attached to a first robot, to asecond container attached to a second robot (640), positioning, via acontrol entity in wireless communication with the first robot, the firstcontainer via movement of the first robot at a first position near thecentral location of the user (642), positioning, via the control entityin wireless communication with the second robot, the second containervia movement of the second robot at a second position near the centrallocation of the user (644), providing, via the control entity,instructions to the user regarding how many items to move from the firstcontainer to the second container (646), receiving at least one item inthe second container from the user (648), and moving the secondcontainer from the second position to a destination position for the atleast one item (650). The first position can be at a different elevationthan the second position. The instructions to the user regarding howmany items to move from the first container to the second container caninclude one or more of audible instructions, visual instructions, hapticinstructions, text instructions, and multimodal instructions. The methodcan include positioning, via the control entity in wirelesscommunication with a third robot, a third container via movement of thethird robot at a third container position, the third container positionnear the central location of the user, providing, via the controlentity, instructions to the user regarding how many items to move fromthe first container to the second container and the third container,receiving at least one item in the second container from the user and atleast one item in the third container from the user, moving, via thesecond robot, the second container from the second position to adestination position for the at least one item in the second containerand moving, via the third robot, the third container from the thirdcontainer position to a destination position for the at least one itemin the third container.

FIG. 7 illustrates a hybrid operational method of this disclosure withrespect to how a warehouse could involve both humans and robots inmoving items through from source containers to destination containers.One benefit of the overall approach is that it enables a scaling up ofthroughput in times of high volume when necessary.

The scaling up generally can occur as follows. In one aspect, awarehouse might be completely robot automated such that robots positionitems in containers on shelves and other robots implement the transitionof items from a source container to a destination container in acompletely automated fashion. In this respect, a method can includingoperating, at an initial stage, a fully automated warehouse in whichrobots handle in an automated way the transfer of items from containerto container (702). However, information about the needed throughputthrough the warehouse might indicate that there is going to be a spikein needed throughput because of, for example, a holiday such asChristmas or Hanukkah, weather events such as a hurricane, or for anyother reason. The method could include receiving an indication of achange in needed throughput through the warehouse (704). Because acompletely automated system will basically have preprogrammed throughputthresholds, when a spike in throughput is needed that exceeds acompletely automated system threshold, the control center 234 canimplement a hybrid operation for the warehouse (706), such that thefollowing one or more items occur.

First, the movement of drawer swapping robots and low-profile roomrobots can be modified to create a pre-staging operation in preparationfor humans to participate in the process (708). Humans can also bescheduled at particular times to take their turn in manually managingthe movement of items from source containers to destination containers(710). The system can take into account its existing data about humansthat will participate in the process. For example, height, strength,gender, age, schedule, social media information which might be relatedto their availability, such as birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, andso forth. The system can utilize data about the team of individuals thatcan be available for scheduling. The system 234 can then select theindividuals that are available and capable to be scheduled. The systemcan then utilize that data about the individuals and their capabilities,height, and so forth, and cause a pre-staging event to occur such thatsource containers and destination containers can be pre-stage andconfigured for efficiency in general and even more specifically for theparticular characteristics of the worker (712). Thus, the system couldhave the exact same set of items that need to be transferred from sourcecontainers to destination containers on the first day and a second day.Because John might be scheduled on the first day, the pre-staging mightutilize the top three shelves of the rack 202 and be configured in acertain way customized or tailored for John based on information aboutJohn such as height, arm span, work history or patterns, etc. The nextday, Mary might be the worker and the pre-staging might be configureddifferent based on Mary's characteristics. The system then operates on ahybrid basis with robots pre-staging source containers and humanshandling the movement of items from source containers to destinationcontainers (714). The system can continue to adjust the scheduling,pre-staging, and operations as necessary to fit current and/or futureneeds.

Once the spike in activity is complete, the control system can eitherremove human scheduled times or stop scheduling human workers and returnthe warehouse to the fully automated robot based operational mode. Thecontrol system can include the functionality of communicating any suchdecisions to managers and human workers. The control system canautomatically identify the current or future spikes and/or needs,schedule users and operations, manage the warehouse operations anddevices, troubleshoot conditions, generate confirmations, report errors,request help, capture operational intelligence and statistics, etc. Theinformation can also be coordinated and span across multiple sites andinclude details about a transportation system between sites.

It is noted that in a number of the concepts disclosed above, thathumans need to be able to quickly and accurately identify a rightlocation or a bin for retrieving an object, placing an object, movingthe bin, and so forth. A respective bin can include a component such asan easily identifiable icon that enables a human user to accuratelyidentify the right location or been. This can be a static component suchas a yellow dot glued to the bin or it can be a dynamic electricalcomponent such as a dynamic display that can turn green or red oryellow, depending on what signal needs to be sent to the human user thatneeds to be able to identify the location or the bin. Haptic signalscould also be built into bins, headsets, hand-held devices, clothing,and so forth. The dynamic component can be battery-powered, includecomputer components, as disclosed herein, and can include acommunication mechanism, such that as the user is in the process ofbeing instructed on how to move objects from one bin to another, andeasily identifiable icon or graphic, which can include sound orvibration, can aid the user in more accurately identifying the rightlocation or been for retrieval or deposit of objects. A respectivedynamic device can communicate with the central controller, a handhelddevice of the user, a headset, goggles, a robot, and/or any othercomponent in order to provide a proper timing and icon configuration,color, design, audible signal, other identifying mechanism to make theprocess more efficient, such that the human user can more quickly andaccurately identify the right bin or location.

In another aspect of this disclosure, a gamification approach can beimplemented in order to improve the human experience when moving itemsfrom a source bin to a destination bin. For example, the user interface326 (or any user interface of any type, including visual, audible,haptic, textual, graphical, multimedia, and so forth) can include datathat can inform, inspire, and/or motivate the human user. Generallyspeaking, the process of improving the human experience in elevatinglevel of performance can be described as a gamification process.

For example, each successful “pick” of a group of items from a sourcebin to one or more destination bins can be identified or rewarded via agraphical icon such as a gold coin, a sound, such as a positive soundingbell, a haptic indicator, or any other type of indicator that providesinformation to the user of a successful transaction. As a human pickercompletes one successful transaction after another, further incentivesand information could be provided. For example, the gamificationinteraction could include transaction indicators, which start in acertain mode and change over time as the user successfully achievestransaction after transaction. For example, the warehouse environmentcould be set up such that a user will have a set of picking assignments,which should take 3 hours. A gamification approach could provide thevarious types of feedback disclosed herein to encourage the user toachieve 100% success in the scheduled transactions of items from varioussource bins to various destination bins. For example, the user could geta gold coin or token presented in the user interface for each successfultransaction and might receive some kind of bonus or reward for a fullysuccessful session of picking. Machine learning algorithms could beutilized for each individual user or for a generalized user with respectto an achievable goal for that session.

For example, the machine learning algorithm can identify that once thesource bins and destination bins are set, a human user should accomplishthe transfer of items in 2 hours. Thus, as a user comes on a shift, thesystem could indicate that the goal for that session is to achieve allof the picking within two hours. If that goal is achieved, the user canreceive a prize, bonus, work, break, or any other kind of incentive.

As the user begins a shift, the system can present data about theirperformance throughout the shift and whether they are on track toachieve the goal. If the user falls behind and needs to speed up, thesystem could provide that data, with perhaps an even higher prize ifthey are able to pick up the pace and achieve the desired goal.

As noted above, the goal might be generic to any human user or mighttake into account the specific user's capabilities. For example, if thespecific user is very tall, that data parameter could be taken intoaccount with respect to their goal for the session. A tall user might beable to move more items than a shorter user given the shelf/binconfigurations set up. In one aspect, the system can receive feedbackfrom the user regarding acceptance of the goal and thus the prize of thegoal is achieved. The system could also provide alternate prizes forachieving 80% or 90% of the stated goal, or any threshold that has beenmet.

A method aspect in this regard can include a determination, based on aconfiguration of bins and items within a warehouse environment, of agoal which relates to a human picker moving items from a source bin toone or more destination bins within the warehouse environment. The goalcan include a time element and/or a volume element of items to be movedfrom source bins to destination bins. For example, the goal might be tomove 1000 items in a particular session or the goal might includedepleting 10 source bins of the respective items within each bin to theproper destination bins within 45 minutes. The goal can take intoaccount individual characteristics of the human picker. The system canpresent a user interface of any type to identify the goal, trackperformance, and provide prizes such as incentives for achieving thegoal as well as alternate prizes for achieving a certain percentage ofthe goal. The system would receive feedback via the various devicesdisclosed herein with respect to the success of the picking operation ofthe human user, and incorporate that data into a gamification module,which can operate on any one or more of the systems disclosed herein,such that a human user in a picking session can be motivated to performat a higher level than they otherwise might operate. Further,implementing such a gamification module can also improve the physicalexperience of the user when performing a picking operation during asession.

The gamification module could also take into account breaks. Forexample, if the human user takes a 10 minute break, the user can provideinput regarding the brake such that it might not count against them whenthe performance is being tracked. Further, the system mightautomatically identify through location based mechanisms that the useris no longer in an aisle in the warehouse that has gone to the restroom.The system utilizing the gamification module can incorporate thatbathroom break into the performance metrics.

The gamification module can include a number of differentfunctionalities which can be used to encourage and motivate goodperformance. For example, if the user does make a mistake and places anitem from of proper source bin into an improper destination bin, thesystem can provide a notification that an error has been made. The usercan then transfer that item from the inappropriate destination bin to aproper destination bin and continue further picking. The system couldidentify to the user that an error has been made, but that if a certainperformance moving forward is achieved, the error can be forgiven orerased. A user interface can be presented which identifies the existenceof one error but can also present data regarding performance that couldresult in the elimination of that error such that the prize can beachieved. For example, one erroneously placed item could be erased as anerror if the user achieves or finishes the session in 95% of the goaltime or if the user moves 110% of the items identified as the goal forthat session. One aspect of this disclosure is notifying the user ofthese goals, and of the information regarding the current performance,so as to motivate the user to improve their performance, obtain a prize,and have a more enjoyable picking experience.

The system will present the goal, track the performance, handle anyerrors by the human user, and where appropriate, provide the user withthe reward. The reward can be anything of value, such as money,cryptocurrencies, time off from work, objects or items such as T-shirts,mugs, certificates, or anything of value that can be utilized toincentivize users as part of the gamification of the picking process.The gamification module it may also track the benefits over time, andprovide one prize or benefit for performance over a longer period oftime such as six months or a year. For example, users for filling acertain level of performance may receive airline tickets for travel or acash bonus or any other thing of value. Of course other prizes wereincentives can be provided for improved performance over pastperformance for each individual user. The system can track performancelevels for each user, over days, weeks, months, and so forth. Thus,prizes can be provided for users to achieve 95% efficiency werepreviously they had achieved 90% efficiency. Graphical data can bepresented to each individual worker regarding their daily, weekly ormonthly performance levels. Of course any time period can apply as well.

The gamification module can also include other modules such as a prizedetermination module that determines, based on the performance metrics,what prize the user should receive, a user interface module, which canmanage the presentation of data to the user, as disclosed herein, andreceive user input as described herein. In one aspect, the userinterface module could include an interface that enables a user toselect a prize for high-performance metrics. This regard, the user isnot presented with only a single prize option but could be withpresented with a number of different prizes that can be available. Inone aspect, the system could present options for various levels ofperformance. For example, if a certain configuration is typicallyprocessed in 3 hours, the system could offer a certain prize forperformance at that level. However, given the variability of humanperformance, a particular user might desire a more valuable prize ifthey can achieve the session in 2 hours. The user interface module couldpresent various options such as are described, such that the user canchoose the goal and/or the prize.

In some embodiments the computer-readable storage devices, mediums, andmemories used herein can include a cable or wireless signal containing abit stream and the like. However, when mentioned, non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media expressly exclude media such as energy,carrier signals, electromagnetic waves, and signals per se.

Methods according to the above-described examples can be implementedusing computer-executable instructions that are stored or otherwiseavailable from computer readable media. Such instructions can comprise,for example, instructions and data which cause or otherwise configure ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purposeprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.Portions of computer resources used can be accessible over a network.The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries,intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, firmware, orsource code. Examples of computer-readable media that may be used tostore instructions, information used, and/or information created duringmethods according to described examples include magnetic or opticaldisks, flash memory, USB devices provided with non-volatile memory,networked storage devices, and so on.

Devices implementing methods according to these disclosures can comprisehardware, firmware and/or software, and can take any of a variety ofform factors. Typical examples of such form factors include laptops,smart phones, small form factor personal computers, personal digitalassistants, rackmount devices, standalone devices, and so on.Functionality described herein also can be embodied in peripherals oradd-in cards. Such functionality can also be implemented on a circuitboard among different chips or different processes executing in a singledevice, by way of further example.

The instructions, media for conveying such instructions, computingresources for executing them, and other structures for supporting suchcomputing resources are means for providing the functions described inthese disclosures.

Although a variety of examples and other information was used to explainaspects within the scope of the appended claims, no limitation of theclaims should be implied based on particular features or arrangements insuch examples, as one of ordinary skill would be able to use theseexamples to derive a wide variety of implementations. Further andalthough some subject matter may have been described in languagespecific to examples of structural features and/or method steps, it isto be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claimsis not necessarily limited to these described features or acts. Forexample, such functionality can be distributed differently or performedin components other than those identified herein. Rather, the describedfeatures and steps are disclosed as examples of components of systemsand methods within the scope of the appended claims.

Claim language reciting “at least one of” refers to at least one of aset and indicates that one member of the set or multiple members of theset satisfy the claim. For example, claim language reciting “at leastone of A and B” means A, B, or A and B.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a first shelf positioned ata shelf level and above a floor level, the first shelf being a closestshelf of one or more shelves to the floor level; a ramp starting at thefloor level and transitioning from a floor level to a first levelbetween the floor level and the shelf level, wherein a robot having adrawer configured thereon can travel from the floor level up the ramp tothe first level without touching the first shelf and wherein the firstlevel is configured underneath the first shelf and above the floorlevel; a drawer handler robot having wheels for rolling on a floor ofthe floor level, wherein the drawer handler robot comprises a drawertransitioning lower level which, when the drawer handler robot is on thefloor, is between the floor level and the shelf level; a processor; anda computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed bythe processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:providing a first instruction for the robot to travel from the floorlevel up the ramp to the first level; moving the robot from the floorlevel, up the ramp and to the first level according to the firstinstruction; providing a second instruction for the drawer handler robotto retrieve the drawer configured on the robot; positioning, based onthe second instruction and by moving across the floor, the drawerhandler robot near the robot configured with the drawer and on the firstlevel; and retrieving the drawer from the robot, while the robot ispositioned on the first level, via a drawer handler mechanism configuredon the drawer handler robot.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein thecomputer-readable medium stores further instructions which, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising: replacing the drawing configured on the robot with a seconddrawer provided by the drawer handler robot.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein the computer-readable medium stores further instructions which,when executed by the processor, cause the processor to performoperations comprising: placing the drawer from the drawer handler roboton the shelf.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein placing the drawer onthe shelf is part of a container pre-staging operation in preparationfor a human user to transfer items from the drawer as it is on the shelfto a destination container.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the rampis inflatable.
 6. The system of claim 5, wherein the ramp, as instructedby the processor, deflates such that a top surface of the ramp issubstantially at the floor level.
 7. A method comprising: moving a robothaving a container configured thereon up a ramp from a floor level to afirst level and to a first position, the first position being above thefloor level and below a shelf and wherein the first level is also abovethe floor level and below the shelf; moving a drawer handler robot to asecond position near the first position, the drawer handling robothaving wheels and moving on a floor at the floor level, wherein thesecond position being near the first position is defined by a distanceneeded for a drawer swapping mechanism on the drawer handler robot,while on the floor, to be able to access the container configured on therobot; and retrieving the container configured on the robot via thedrawer swapping mechanism on the drawer handler robot.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising: replacing the container configured on therobot with a second container provided by the drawer handler robot. 9.The method of claim 7, further comprising: placing the container fromthe drawer handler robot on the shelf.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein placing the drawer on the shelf is part of a containerpre-staging operation in preparation for a human user to transfer itemsfrom the container as it is on the shelf to a destination container. 11.The method of claim 7, wherein the ramp is inflatable.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, further comprising: deflating the ramp such that a top surfaceof the ramp is substantially at the floor level.
 13. The method of claim12, further comprising: positioning a low-profile robot having adestination container configured thereon at the first position.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: moving the low-profile robothaving the destination container into an aisle to a third position incoordination with an instruction to a user to retrieve an item from asource container on the shelf to the destination container on thelow-profile robot.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:moving the low-profile robot from the third position in the aisle to thefirst position under the shelf after a confirmation that the item hasbeen received in the destination container on the low-profile robot. 16.The method of claim 7, further comprising: positioning a low-profilerobot having a destination container configured thereon at the firstposition.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the ramp is inflatable andpositioning the low-profile robots at the first position occurs afterdeflating the ramp.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:moving the low-profile robot having the destination container into anaisle to a third position in coordination with an instruction to a userto retrieve an item from a source container on the shelf to thedestination container on the low-profile robot.
 19. The method of claim18, further comprising: moving the low-profile robot from the thirdposition in the aisle to the first position under the shelf after aconfirmation that the item has been received in the destinationcontainer on the low-profile robot.
 20. A system comprising: alow-profile robot having a container configured thereon, wherein thelow-profile robot receives an instruction from a control center to movethe low-profile robot up a ramp from a floor level to a first level andto a first position, the first position being above the floor level andbelow a shelf and the first level also being above the floor level andbelow the shelf, wherein the shelf is a first shelf of one or moreshelves above the floor level; and a drawer handler robot having wheelsfor moving along a floor at the floor level, wherein the drawer handlerrobot receives an instruction from the control center to move across thefloor to a second position near the first position, wherein the secondposition being near the first position is defined by a distance neededfor a drawer swapping mechanism on the drawer handler robot to be ableto access the container configured on the robot, wherein the drawerhandler robot, as instructed by the control center, retrieves thecontainer configured on the robot via the drawer swapping mechanism onthe drawer handler robot.